The International Astronomical Union Minor Planet Center

Processing (Info)

Orbital Elements for Bright Minor Planets at Opposition in 2024

This page lists links to orbital elements suitable for loading into various planetarium-type/sky simulation software packages. At present, the following packages are supported:

• MPC format
• SkyMap (SkyMap Software)
• Guide (Project Pluto)
• xephem (E. Downey)
• Home Planet (J. Walker)
• MyStars! (Relative Data Products)
• TheSky (Software Bisque)
• Starry Night (Sienna Software)
• Deep Space (D. S. Chandler)
• PC-TCS (D. Harvey)
• Earth Centered Universe (Nova Astronomics)
• Dance of the Planets (ARC)
• MegaStar V4.x (E.L.B. Software)
• SkyChart III (Southern Stars Software)
• Voyager II (Carina Software)
• SkyTools (CapellaSoft)
• Autostar (Meade Instruments)

Disclaimer: Mention of a particular software package does not in any way represent an endorsement of the above-mentioned product and/or company by the Minor Planet Center, the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams or the International Astronomical Union.

The software elements are also accessible from the ephemerides pages.

Data for further packages may be added when data on the proprietary formats used for the storage of orbital elements is made available by the software authors. It is recommended, however, that new software support the MPC format directly.